ATLANTA, Ga. – The Sam Houston State Bearkats nearly erased a 20-point halftime deficit, but could not complete the comeback on Tuesday night, falling 81-73 to Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.

John Dewey III finished with 15 to lead the Bearkats (3-2), hitting 6-for-10 from the field with six assists; however, four Yellow Jackets (3-1) finished in double-figures, led by Ben Lammers’ 19 points and eight rebounds.

The Kats trailed by 20 at the halftime break, but cut it to as close as seven points in the second half behind 53-percent shooting and nine points from Dakarai Henderson. With three three-point buckets on the night, Henderson moved past Mike Dillard into fourth place all-time at Sam Houston with 191 career threes.

HOW IT HAPPENEDSam Houston got a three-point bucket from Henderson and four points from Dewey III to stay within striking distance early, but the Yellow Jackets then held the Bearkats scoreless for nearly six minutes and used a 17-0 run to open things up.

Sam got eight points from Dewey in the half, but hit just 8-for-27 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including 1-for-10 from three-point distance. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech hit more than half of its shots and big man Lammers delivered 12 points to help GT to its halftime advantage.

The Kats seemed to work out the kinks after the break, cutting the lead in half by the midway point of the period and getting it down to just eight points on a layup from Jamal Williams with 8:49 to play.

But Georgia Tech responded with six straight points of their own to stretch the lead back to double-digits. Sam Houston got threes from Henderson, Paul Baxter and Albert Almanza to make a late run, getting back to as close as 77-70 with less than a minute to play.

PLAYERS OF THE GAMEDewey led the Kats with 15 points on the game, adding 15 assists and six assists in reaching double figures for the fourth time this season. Dakarai Henderson hit four threes on his way to 12 points and five rebounds, while Torry Butler reached double figures for the third time this season with 10 points on 5-for-7 from the field.

KEY STATSSam Houston hit 43.1 percent from the floor for the game, but it was a slow first half that hampered them. The Kats started off just 1-for-10 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes and went scoreless for nearly six minutes of gametime as the Yellow Jackets led by 20 just midway through the game.

UP NEXTThe Bearkats return to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on Friday to host the Idaho Vandals. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.